African Wind
Chapter10
MOROCCO- City That Transcends Time & Space
In March 2001, I visited the cities of Ouarzazate & Fez to check shooting locations for a promotion clip. I actually was in a pretty bad shape in terms of physical condition, as I went to see my doctor, the cancer check-up marker wasn’t good, and had to take series of examinations for days, feeling extremely depressed. The more the situation gets worse, I tend to keep all hardships & difficulties to myself, and try not to be dependent on anyone, so I kept it all secret from everyone (although I was at the verge of falling apart)…and so, being too difficult to wait alone for the results of the examinations in Japan, I flew out to Morocco with Morosawa, a film director who is my old friend for 23 years & also my working mate.
Morocco was a city I always wanted to visit. Because it was a shooting location of one of my favorite film “The Sheltering Sky,” and where the author of the said novel, Paul Bowles moved from the States & spent his life. By the way, the music of “The Sheltering Sky” is directed by Ryuichi Sakamoto.
In Ouarzazate, lots of kasbahs exist here & there, and you could see the everyday lives of desert people. In a huge kasbah that’s registered as a World Heritage, 8 families still live their lives.
Kasbahs were once used as forts. Kasbahs made of red dirt each have only a small window, and they’re all dark inside. So they place some great artistic lamps which makes them extremely illusive.
Lots of Berber people live there, and most of Berber women wear black traditional costumes & veils over their heads. When we visited, the weather was extremely hot, but Berber women wore black from head to toes. I understand they wear such costume for religious reasons, but I can never wear all black under such a hot sun!!...I’m sure it’s something only normal to those women, living the Berber life but…
Following the visit to Ouarzazate, we headed for Fez taking a train from Casa Blanca. We bought tickets for 1st class seats, which is a cozy air-conditioned compartment with 2 benches for three facing each other. The nice compartment was all ours for the first half of the journey. In about half way of our route to Fez, a strange Moroccan came in & sat with us. The Moroccan, probably in his late 20s, started to talk to us in weird Japanese: “want to buy some chocolate?” …just as I guessed. In this case, chocolate means hashish, and FYI, there are lots of Moroccans trying to sell drugs to tourists. We didn’t buy anything from them of course, but they’re pretty persistent so you should be careful.
Fez was a big town, bigger than we have imagined. Basically, more than 99% of whole Morocco are devout Muslims, and the city streets are filled with men. What surprised me was the outdoor cafes in the early evening, they are filled with men all wearing djellaba, their traditional costume. And drinking mint tea. There’s no alcohol on any menu. A lot of cafes in Casa Blanca serve alcohols for tourists, but in Fez, you could hardly drink alcohols unless you’re in a bar or a cafe of a huge hotel. At any rate, a foreign woman like me walking the streets without covering my face & wearing regular clothing means attracting attention of all of the men in the cafes, and to be honest, it was quite scary.
Morocco is the closest African country to Europe, and there are much more Arab- looking people as opposed to black people. I wasn’t able to feel like I was in Africa at all. Foods were great, dishes like couscous and tajin were especially delicious, they became my favorites. Lots of vegetables, and they’re all delicious as well. I heard that the vegetables were also exported to European countries. I never seen such variety of vegetables in any other African countries I’ve been too, so it truly surprised me. It’s definitely wrong to see the whole African continent as one same place.
The medina in Fez was filled with more surprises. As it’s said to be the world’s most complex maze, countless streets crisscross within the area surrounded by high castle wall, with population of thousands.
I heard that in 1950s, European spies used to train themselves in this huge maze. Donkeys walk the streets wide enough just for 2 people to walk side by side. A child on a horse transporting packages. People wearing djellaba passing by each other. Voices reading the Koran from mosques. Various shops filled the narrow street sides. Walking the white stone pavement, you feel like you’ve zapped 1000-2000 years back in the history. …I mean, this might be more appropriate: you’ll feel as if you could erase your whole past. The moment an impulse of wanting to hide myself in this space attacked me, the voice “cheap carpets!!” in broken Japanese pulled me back to reality. …There are so many people calling themselves “ a city guide” in this place. If you include those who aren’t official or professional, you could say that everyone you bump in on streets are city guides.
We hired a young guide named Mohammed to show us around the city. Of course, we don’t buy any carpets. Mohammed who lives in medina hinted a smell of juvenile but didn’t seem to be any bad guy. We decided to ask him to be the coordinator of our promo shootings. In order to shoot inside medina within a limited amount of time, you must know how to involve the people that actually lived there. We went to Mohammed’s house & asked him to introduce us to his parents as well. His father, his mother, his brothers & sisters, his family were all nice & friendly people. We also visited his Berberian grandma. With a distinctive tattoo on her forehead, she lived alone in a traditional house on top of the hill. Here, like al the other Moroccan cities, women veil their heads & cover their faces when walking outside. Even if it’s just a few steps to a neighborhood…
I’ve been to quite a number of countries with lots of Muslim people in the past, but I’ve never been to an African country with such a number of devout Muslim people. From outsiders, the country looks a total male chauvinism, that there’s no freedom for women. But Mohammed’s mother as well as his sisters looked very happy.
After the Gulf War, there are tendency of Muslim people to be seen as troublesome. But for instance, I didn’t study Islam religion, and I don’t live in an Islamic society either. The same goes for Christianity. I learned a bit of Buddhism because the junior high school I attended happened to be a Buddhist school, but I don’t have enough knowledge of any religion to be able to give comments or criticisms. Although I just think that even if there are differences in religions, if people face each other as human beings, there should be lots of things that could be understood.,With my trip to Morocco, I was able to reassure myself that common sense in Japan, or that of my own aren’t the common sense of the world…
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